BY AYSEL YUCEL
Sanmar, Turkey’s oldest private tugboat company, has won Canada’s largest energy project LNG Canada’s tugboat tender. The shipyard will deliver five tugboats to Canadian HaiSea Marine in total by the end of 2023 including two tugboats fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and three tugboats powered by batteries. Sanmar is known for building the first LNG fueled tugboat and autonomous vessel of the world.
The agreement made with HaiSea Marine has been Sanmar’s biggest tender won at once, according to Ali Gurun, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sanmar. “The two technological masterpieces Dual Fuel LNG escort tugboats with 100 tons of bollard pull and three electric battery powered 70-ton-bollar-pull tugboats will serve for Hai Sea Marine’s new multi-billion-dollar LNG Canada Project at Kitimat port in British Columbia region,” said Gurun. “These five tugboats will be the most developed tugboats manufactured at once in terms of technology,” he added.
Dual Fuel LNG tugboats will be built at Sanmar’s Altinova Shipyard, while the electric battery powered tugboats will be manufactured at the company’s Tuzla Shipyard. The price of the 5-tugboat agreement is in 9-digit numbers, according to Gurun. Within the scope of the agreement, HaiSea Marine also signed an option agreement for building of a sixth tugboat.
Sanmar’s tugboats to operate at LNG Canada’s new export facilities located in Kitimat’s traditional territory Haisla Nation, will provide handling and escort services to vessels carrying LNG as one of the world’s most environmentally friendly fleets. New tugboats’ greenhouse gas emissions are 54% and 24% less than their diesel engine alternatives.
HaiSea Marine is a maritime company owned by Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC, which has majority of shares in the partnership. The company will operate tugboats and escort tugboats to be required at LNG Canada project’s facilities in Kitimat. LNG Canada is an energy project to be built at Kitimat port located in British Columbia region of Canada with an investment of USD 40bn. The natural gas to be drilled from the natural gas field located nearby Dawson Creek by Montney Formation, will be liquefied, stored, transported, and exported from this facility.
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